The station was opened by the Royal Westphalian Railway Company (Königlich-Westfälische Eisenbahn, KWE) on 30 September 1875, along with the Münster–Enschede railway.[3][4] The station was originally called Metelen and received its current name on 1 October 1902.[3]

The station is operated by the Eisenbahn-Interessengemeinschaft Metelen e. V. (Metelen railway community of interest, EIG). It includes, among other things, the Metelen Land Railway Museum (German: Eisenbahnmuseum Metelen Land, which has a uniform and hat collection. The station’s fully functional mechanical signal box, a section of railway track with a crossover, a local and long distance barrier, homemade hand-operated inspection trolley, a salon car, workshop wagons, track maintenance equipment, a ticket printing machine, a weighing scale with card issuance, an industrial diesel locomotive and model railways can also be viewed.[6]